A large coal seam gas producer in southeast Queensland was undergoing significant expansion of capacity in an area both politically and environmentally sensitive. As a responsible operator this requires the storage and treatment of large volumes of process water in a safe and low risk manner.

In addition to wishing to minimize the environmental impact of their operations government regulation 1 required that: “dams must…. have a system that will detect any passage of the wetting front or entrained contaminants through the floor or sides of the dam and enable repair of the containment system or its decommissioning and rehabilitation”.